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Man accused in deadly DWI was involved in 2010 fatal crash

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The man accused of driving drunk in a crash that killed a grandmother and mother is out of the hospital.

Police said they expect more charges to be filed, but the current charges do not require him to be in jail.

Eyewitness News discovered almost three years before the crash, which killed two Charlotte women, 28-year-old Justin Jones was involved in another collision.

Police said both involved alcohol.

Documents on a case from January 2010 state that Jones was involved in a collision in Marshville and took off. Monroe police pulled him over about an hour later.

"Very unsteady on his feet," Officer Tina Harkey, who arrested him, said. "Once I quit letting him smoke, he's got the red, glassy eyes. You could smell the alcohol on his breath."

Harkey said she attended several hearings in his case, which was continued for different reasons.

But in June 2011, his case came up before a judge, and Harkey says she didn't get a subpoena to appear.

She said she was inside the courthouse for other cases but was marked as "unavailable."

The case was dismissed.

On Wednesday night, police said, Jones was drunk when he hit an SUV with Marie Crook, her daughter Jennifer Hunt and Hunt's daughters inside.

Crook and Hunt died.

"Sometimes we don't get to have our say," Harkey said. "And I definitely feel for the family that lost two this weekend, and I hope that justice is served this time."

Attorney Adam Seifer, who specializes in traffic and DWI law, said the previous charges won't affect the current case.

"That charge cannot be used for really any purpose by the state, because in the eyes of the law, he did not commit the act of driving while impaired in the past," he said.

According to Department of Motor Vehicles records, Jones had his license suspended from June 2010 to May of this year. It was for failing to appear in court on a tag, title, or registration violation and for refusing to take a breath alcohol test in the case from 2010.

He reapplied and it was reinstated in August.

Hunt's daughters, 9-year-old Ashlynn Hunt and 5-year-old Aleigha Hunt, had only minor injuries from the crash and are staying with family.

A funeral service for Hunt is planned at Next Level Church in Matthews on Thursday.